Students participate in 30-hour famine

Submitted by Wyatt Pahl
Last weekend, April 17 and 18, students at St. Michaels School in Bow Island participated in a 30 Hour Famine to raise money and awareness to the issues around the world that revolve around hunger and lack of food.

Fifteen students from Grades 7 to 12 participated and those few people were able to raise $1610.00 to go towards the hungry. On Friday the students had normal classes and after the school bell rang at the end of the day they participated in many events to keep their mind off of their rumbling tummies. Some of the activities were dodge ball, card games, hide and go seek and later on they watched “The Pursuit of Happyness.” Guest speaker John Paetkau came to the school and talked for an hour of the issues in Ukraine and it really touched the hearts of the students. To end the night the students participated in a candle celebration where every 3 seconds someone blew out a candle. Each time a candle went out it resembled a child dying from hunger. As all 200 candles slowly went out, the room became dark and we realized that if nothing is done to help those in need pretty soon their will be no one left.  Saturday morning the kids woke up and watched another movie, played some more cards, did a tug of war and a scavenger hunt. The first group to complete the scavenger hunt was allowed to eat first when 2:30 pm came around to break the fast. Students also created a banner with a quote on that read, “If we can conqueror space, we can conqueror hunger.” The group donated the money towards the organization Free the Children where the money will be sent to those who need the money for food and other resources. Throughout the weekend students were encouraged to drink plenty of water and fruit juice in order to keep their sugar levels up.

The weekend was very smooth and the organizer, Wyatt Pahl, feels as though the other students learned a great deal about what it really means to go hungry and they became aware of how often someone dies of hunger. He spoke to the students and a majority of the group learned that we should be thankful for all that we have and no matter the situation, one can always find a bright side.